The advent of inexpensive video telephony via services/software such as Skype opens the potential for video versions of caller-based talk radio. Video telephony has been used on television news and interview programs for a limited number of interviews, but programs with many viewers calling into the show have not been prevalent to date due to issues of cost benefits related to production and technical complexities and revenue limitations from audiences fractionalized by increased viewing options for the audience.
Commercial video programming is economically successful when revenues exceed program costs, but as the number of video outlets has increased, audiences have fractionalized, often reducing available revenues. As a result, many content services are under cost pressure, cannot afford to produce original content on a regular basis, and are relegated to re-running recorded content that has previously aired, such content having diminishing returns with the advent of alternate viewing options and digital video recorders. This is particularly true among secondary and tertiary cable networks and local television stations during daytime periods, and some operations in prime viewing periods as well. Original live program is generally cost prohibitive for such outlets.
A major component of program costs are those that occur in the live production of the program, including the costs of technical equipment, acquisition of content from remote locations, and personnel. The number of technical and production personnel is often directly related to the complexity of the production coupled with the broader operation of studios and control rooms designed for general use and therefore requiring a high level of minimum staffing regardless of program type. Often a basic studio for live production at a television network requires a minimal technical crew of a technical director (who switches from a multiplicity of video inputs), an audio engineer, and a character generator operator responsible for creating and inserting into the video stream various names and titles. In addition, a production staff is necessary, including a producer, and various production assistants to make certain that such things as appropriate names are provided to the character generator operator. Personnel costs for staffing a single television studio for a single shift for a year can cost more than one half million dollars, before payments to the on-air talent. In contrast, radio production requires far fewer personnel because the on-air talent often also runs the control “board” him/herself, and there is no need for a separate audio person, technical director, or character generator operator. In the case of the talk radio format, a producer often works with the on-air talent to pre-screen and coordinate incoming audio calls from the general public.